wayside_schoolfandomcom-20200214-history
Pencils
"Pencils" is the twelfth chapter of Wayside School is Falling Down. Synopsis Jason tries to take care of his pencil-chewing habit. Plot This chapter opens with Jason borrowing a pencil from Allison. However, when he hands it back, it's full of teeth marks. Allison is disgusted. Jason attempts to apologize, but Allison has Jason keep the pencil, and asks to wash her hands in the restroom. As she leaves, she tells Mrs. Jewls not to let Jason touch her books in case he eats them. Everyone laughs. Todd offers Jason his book to eat, but Mrs. Jewls is upset by the comment and makes him write his name on the DISCIPLINE list. Jason feels so mad at himself, that he bites his pencil, snapping it in half. Unfortunately, he made a poor decision. Mrs. Jewls announces they are about to have a spelling test, and Jason asks Rondi for one of hers. Rondi is skeptical, noting her pencils are new, and she fears Jason will bite them. Jason promises, and Rondi hands him one of her pencils. The test begins. Jason tries to participate, but as he focuses on the test, he sticks the pencil in his mouth and starts biting it. By the time the test is over, Rondi's pencil looks even worse than Allison's. Rondi asks for the pencil back, but Jason tries to hide it. Eventually when he gives her the pencil, Rondi notes he chewed on it, but Jason tries to cover it up and say the teeth marks belong to Rondi. Rondi questions how she could chew the pencil without front teeth, but Jason notes that she could've chewed them with her back teeth. Mrs. Jewls makes Jason write his name under the DISCIPLINE list for chewing Rondi's pencil and lying about it. While he's up, Mrs. Jewls remarks he shouldn't eat the chalk, which makes the rest of the class giggle. Mrs. Jewls hands Dameon another stack of worksheets to pass out with arithmetic problems on them. Jason asks Allison if he can borrow another pencil, but Allison tells him to eat her socks. Jason thinks that isn't a bad idea, because he couldn't chew any pencils with a sock in his mouth. Myron looks at his worksheet and decide he isn't in the mood to do it, and lets Jason borrow his pencil. Jason promises not to chew it, when he gets another idea. He considers asking Mrs. Jewls for a Tootsie Roll Pop, because with that in his mouth, he wouldn't chew the pencil, and it would probably taste better than Allison's sock. He wasn't quite sure though, because he never tried Allison's socks. Mrs. Jewls invites Jason to the front of her class with a solution. Jason tells Mrs. Jewls he likes the purple ones, but Mrs. Jewls has an entirely different plan. She gets out a roll of masking tape, and tapes his mouth shut. She has to use a lot of tape, because Jason has the second biggest mouth in class. When Jason returns to his seat, Rondi and Allison make fun of him, and Jason supposedly responds with "a very bad thing to say," though his voice is entirely muffled by the tape. However, it does stop him from chewing the pencils, and also makes him much more quiet. Mrs. Jewls considers taping everyone's mouth shut, and questions how no one else has thought of such a good idea. Characters *Jason *Allison *Mrs. Jewls *Todd *Rondi *Dameon *Myron Trivia *This is the first time Myron is seen using the privileges he got in "Freedom." Gallery Pencils 1989.jpg|Joel Schick Illustration Pencils 2003.jpg|Adam McCauley illustration Foreign editions Pencils Illustration.jpg|Peter Allen illustration (UK) Jason Tape Pencils.jpg|Peter Allen second illustration (UK) Pencils Kitamura.png|Satoshi Kitamura illustration (Japan) Category:Wayside School is Falling Down chapters Category:Book chapters